A chilling warning.
By now we’re all familiar with the final laps of the 2001 Daytona 500. With Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading the way coming to the checkered flag, their team owner Dale Earnhardt was in third in his black #3 car and appeared to be trying to block for his two drivers. But a tap from Sterling Marlin sent Earnhardt’s car up the track and into the turn four wall, killing him instantly from a basilar skull fracture.
It was one of the darkest days in NASCAR history, one that changed the sport forever. But it was unfortunately one that Earnhardt himself saw coming.
The Intimidator was the fourth NASCAR driver to pass away from a basilar skull fracture in just 8 months. Adam Petty, the son of Kyle Petty and grandson of the legendary Richard Petty, had passed away after a crash during a practice session of the Busch Series Race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in May of 2000. Kenny Irwin Jr. had suffered the same fate, at the same track, during a practice session for the Cup Series race that summer, with both of their accidents being blamed on a stuck throttle. And Tony Roper had been killed during a Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in October of 2000.
Safety was obviously on everybody’s mind heading into the 2001 NASCAR Cup Series season, although the sport was slow to adopt new safety measures in part due to resistance from the drivers themselves, who were stubborn and didn’t want NASCAR to make any changes that would affect their comfort in the car – or their car’s speed.
But on lap 173 of the Daytona 500, everybody was concerned that the sport had just witnessed another tragedy.
A massive wreck on the backstretch caused the #20 car of Tony Stewart to go airborne, landing on top of the oncoming car of Robby Gordon before flipping multiple times through the air and eventually landing upright in the grass.
Luckily Stewart was relatively unscathed, walking away with what he said was one cut and some bruises. But the race was red-flagged for the massive 18-car crash while NASCAR cleaned up the track. And it was during that red flag that Earnhardt made a haunting prediction.
Earnhardt’s team owner, Richard Childress, recalled talking to his driver on the radio during the red flag:
“I remember him coming on there, and I can’t remember if it was as soon as the wreck happened or during the red flag, but he said, ‘Richard, if they don’t do something to these cars, it’s going to end up killing somebody.'”
Unfortunately we know how the story ends just 20 laps later, but Earnhardt’s death was the catalyst for NASCAR to make sweeping safety improvements over the next few years. They immediately began mandating the use of HANS Devices, a head and neck restraint that protects drivers heads from sudden movements in the event of a crash. And SAFER barriers were installed at all NASCAR tracks to help absorb the force of the cars hitting the wall.
Luckily, NASCAR hasn’t suffered a fatal crash since Earnhardt passed away in 2001, a testament to the safety advances made after his death. But unfortunately, it took the sport’s biggest tragedy to get the racing world to step up and accept that changes needed to be made – something that Earnhardt eerily warned about just 20 laps before his death.
